Par WILLIAMS JOHN / HVEEM DAVID (Arr.). «Cantina Band (or «Mad About Me») was written by John Williams in 1977 for the film Star Wars (later Star Wars IV: A New Hope). Even with quite a bit of the Star Wars music being quite well known, Cantina Band is literally in a style of its own. In the Star Wars-universe this style is called «jizz», Williams’ take on the more well-known genre «jazz». Williams was tasked by Star Wars-creator George Lucas to make music that sounded like «several creatures in a future century finding some 1930's Benny Goodman swing band music ... and how they might attempt to interpret it» and ended up with Cantina Band #1 and #2. Both numbers are played in the legendary scene taking place in Chalmun's Spaceport Cantina where Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi gets in a fight causing even the band to stop playing. The band, which goes by the name Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes, comes from the planet Clak'dor VII and specializes in jizz and the nearby, slightly older style of jatz. Performers of this music often go by the name 'jizz-wailers', and the Bith people from Clak'dor VII are especially well suited for jizz-wailing since they can hold every note as long as they want thanks to a unique respiratory system - something many perhaps would like to be able to do in the performance of this arrangement as well. The arrangement is relatively faithful to Williams' original version, but with a somewhat different ending. Although the woodwind section undoubtedly has the biggest technical challenges, an understanding of the musical style is the very key to making the arrangement sound good - and here all groups must work together. Playing lightly but quite articulated, and very precise, will be an absolute necessity to get the music drifting off all the way to Tatooine. In measure 113 there is a small improvised solo in either trombone or trumpet, but if you want the real authentic Cantina Band-sound this is of course done on a steel drum. / Date parution : 2023-07-31/ Répertoire / Concert Band/Harmonie

Par DVORAK ANTONIN. This arrangement was written for Norwegian School Band Madlamark Skolekorps to their participation at the Norwegian Championships 2023. The arrangement will work excellent also for a wind ensemble (one player to each part), but the clarinet parts should always be doubled. Euphonium II is optional, but it’s recommended to use also this when there are two players or more on this instrument. Concerning percussion, timpani is the most important part, but it’s recommended to also cover cymbals and mallet percussion. The articulation and dynamics are kept as close as possible to the original version by Dvorak. However, some changes has been made to make it more suitable for a wind instrumentation. The timpani part is identical to the original version except for some places when the trumpet signals are doubled in the timpani part. Staccato notation should not be played short here, but rather separated. At faster passages, the music should be played endurant or legato if possible. This arrangement is a good opportunity to perform music of highest quality where musicality, phrasing, balance and intonation are very important, and, where each musician and part are deeply involved in the music making. / Date parution : 2023-07-31/ Répertoire / Concert Band/Harmonie

Anton Bruckner (1824-1896). Par BRUCKNER ANTON. Anton Bruckner (b. 4.9.1824, Ansfelden, d. 11.10.1896, Vienna) didn’t have it easy. Throughout his life, the Austrian composer was plagued by self-doubt. Anton Bruckner came from a simple, rural background. After the death of his father, he was accepted as a choirboy at the monastery of Sankt Florian in 1837. After several years as a school assistant and his own organ and piano studies, he first worked as organist in St. Florian, then from 1855 as cathedral organist in Linz. Introduced to music theory and instrumentation by Simon Sechter and Otto Kitzler, he discovered Richard Wagner as an artistic role model, whom he admired throughout his life and also visited several times in Bayreuth. In 1868 Anton Bruckner became professor of basso continuo, counterpoint and organ at the Vienna Conservatory; ten years later court organist; and in 1891 finally honorary doctor of the University of Vienna. He was considered an important organ virtuoso of his era, but had to wait a long time for recognition as a composer. It was not until Symphony No.7 in E major, composed between 1881 and 1883, with the famous Adagio written under the effects of Wagner's death, that he achieved the recognition he had hoped for, even if he was reluctant to accept it given his inclination towards scepticism and self-criticism. Anton Bruckner was a loner who did not want to follow a particular school or doctrine. He composed numerous sacred vocal works, such as his three masses, the Missa Solemnis in B flat minor (1854), the Te Deum (1881-84) and numerous motets. As a symphonic composer, he wrote a total of nine symphonies and many symphonic studies from 1863 onwards, tending to revise completed versions several times over. Bruckner's orchestral works were long considered unplayable, but in fact were merely exceptionally bold for the tonal language of their time, uniting traditions from Beethoven through Wagner to folk music, on the threshold between late Romanticism and Modernism. Anton Bruckner composed about 40 motets during his lifetime, the earliest a setting of Pange lingua around 1835, and the last, Vexilla regis, in 1892. Thomas Doss has compiled some of these motets in this volume for symphonic wind orchestra. These motets show many characteristics of personal expression, especially Bruckner's colourful harmony in the earlier works, which is in places aligned with Franz Schubert (changes between major and minor; and movements in thirds). Later works are characterised by many components which, in addition to the expanded stature of the movements, include above all a sense of the instrumentation as an outward phenomenon and the harmony as a compositional feature that works more internally. Some aspects of Bruckner's work are the result of his long period of study, which familiarised him not only with the tradition of his craft, but also gave him insights into the 'modernity' of his time in such composers as Wagner, Liszt and Berlioz. From this developed his personal standpoint, which always pursues the connection between the old and the new. / Date parution : 2023-07-31/ Répertoire / Concert Band/Harmonie